DirectX 12 is Microsoft's latest implementation of their graphics API. This graphics API facilitates direct access to the hardware, making the job of game developers much easier. Its predecessor DirectX 11 was first released when Windows Vista came out in late 2009. The newer DirectX 12 API was released in 2015, designed to be a lower-level API with major improvements.
What is DirectX and how does it work? (DX11 vs. DX12)
You might be wondering about the performance difference in games that support both APIs. These include Witcher 3, Ready Or Not, Fortnite and Path Of Exile, among others. In today's guide, we have compared DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 APIs.
DirectX 11 was introduced more than a decade ago, which makes it quite old. Nevertheless, it is highly regarded among developers and is used in many modern games. There was a growing demand for a lower-level API, which is what Microsoft designed DirectX 12 to be. This gives developers more granular control over hardware resources such as CPU and GPU and how they are used with DirectX 12.
As Uncle Ben from Spiderman taught us, with great power comes great responsibility. Developing a game on DirectX 12 can have additional complexities. It's up to the developers to optimize things properly so that users benefit from using the more modern graphics API. However, if a developer wants to make a game with the latest graphical advancements, they would need to use the modern DirectX 12 API instead of the older DirectX 11 API.
